# Does incarcerating drug dealers do any good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 20, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851 "2017-04-20T15:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851/21 "2017-05-14T23:13:31Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > For every drug dealer that gets arrested, someone will always take their place. For every \_\_\_ (pedophile, murderer, extortionist, armed robber, Ponzi scheme operator, those who commit texting while driving) who gets arrested, someone will always take their place. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851/22 "2017-05-14T23:41:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > For every \_\_\_ (pedophile, murderer, extortionist, armed robber, Ponzi scheme operator, those who commit texting while driving) who gets arrested, someone will always take their place. Nonsense. There are tens of millions of people who don’t find drug dealing morally wrong, so whether or not they become drug dealers depend considerably on the supply of existing drug dealers. So you put a million drug dealers in jail you still have millions ready to replace them so they can make the big bucks. Pedophiles are still pedophiles no matter how many other pedophiles there are. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851/23 "2017-05-15T00:31:18Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Nonsense. There are tens of millions of people who don’t find drug dealing morally wrong I don’t normally resort to this, but…cite? There are of course lots of people who don’t find the other listed crimes morally wrong (pedophiles are a notorious example), so your argument has fallen down and can’t get up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851/24 "2017-05-16T23:08:27Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Best guesses as to how much emphasis is put on re-habilitation by Gov. LePage. 😉 He said again today that he wants to give drug dealers the [death penalty](http://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/16/lepage-repeats-wish-for-death-penalty-for-drug-dealers/) instead of a manslaughter charge. He needs to realize that his proposal: A. Costs even more than life in prison(and he used to love talking about cutting the budget) B. Won’t bring back the victim C. Totally ignores the fact that the victim made the deliberate choice to take drugs If somebody bought a handle of vodka and died because they drank it all in one night, nobody would be punishing the owner of the liquor store. Hard drugs, like alcohol, are a choice. No matter how severely punish drug dealers, we will always have them. It’s an exercise in futility. I would recommend giving up trying to stop dealers, and instead invest in rehab programs to get addicts cleaned up. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851/25 "2017-05-17T03:20:27Z")
I’ve never thought that LePage had both oars in the water, but he’s just one figure in all of this. Maine is taking steps modeled on those of NH (which I think were modeled on those of NJ) in stepping up efforts to prosecute dealers for manslaughter when their customers OD and die. Seems fair to me, and I have absolutely no problem with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-incarcerating-drug-dealers-do-any-good/784851.md?page=1)